A Winnemem Wintu tribal leader said Tuesday the only way to ensure the safety and privacy of an upcoming ceremony on Lake Shasta is to give the tribe federal recognition.

Caleen Sisk, the Winnemem chief and spiritual leader, said she started fasting nine days ago with her nephew, Arron, to get the Bureau of Indian Affairs to protect a portion of Lake Shasta from "abuse and harassment from the general public" as the tribe prepares for an upcoming coming-of-age ceremony for its next leader.

The demand comes less than a week after the U.S. Forest Service agreed to close a stretch of water on the lake for the ceremony, though tribe members are worried the decision not to close the surrounding land will lead to people interfering with the event.

Tribal recognition would allow the Forest Service to close a campground, the tribe says.

"The (Bureau of Indian Affairs) has been basically authorizing this abuse of our ceremony by relegating us to their 'unrecognized' status," Sisk said. "We are fasting and praying because they need to come to the table and fix their mistake."

The Winnemem Wintu lost official tribal status in 1985 when the federal government changed legal requirements to be considered a tribe.

Tribal members, who lost federal funds and benefits as a result of losing recognition, have called the decision a clerical error, while federal officials have said the tribe did not meet new requirements.

"I am sure some will say, 'See I told you, that's what this was all about in the first place — federal recognition.' But they would be wrong," said Gary Hayward Slaughter Mulcahy, the tribe's government liaison. "It is still about having a ceremony in peace and dignity."

Virgil Akins, agency superintendent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Redding, referred specific questions on the Winnemem to Amy Dutschke, regional director in Sacramento. She did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment.

The decision by the Forest Service's California regional director reversed the agency's stance and granted the tribe's request to close the water area around the campground to the public from June 30 to July 3.

Randy Moore, the Forest Service's regional forester for the state, has said federal law prohibits the agency from closing the lake because the Winnemem Wintu are not a federally recognized tribe. But he ultimately decided to close that part of the lake because it would have been unsafe to hold the ceremony with boaters passing through the area, he said in announcing his decision.

Moore agreed to close a section of the lake but not the campground, where tribe members camp during the ceremony.

Sisk last week refused to sign an agreement with the Forest Service, saying if the agency didn't close the campground, people would drive through and disrupt the ceremony. Part of that agreement included waiving an $1,800 permit fee, Winnemem members said.

Mulcahy said the tribe is in negotiations with the Forest Service on the agreement and plans to cancel a planned blockade of the river by about 400 volunteers.

He said the Forest Service has done all it legally can and that federal recognition is the only way to get a complete closure of the area.

"They need to help bring the BIA to the table," Sisk said. "We are the indigenous people from here. Recognized or not, we have the right to hold our ceremony in privacy."

Tribe members traveled to Vallejo in April to picket outside the agency's regional headquarters to demand the closure. While there, they also met with Moore, who said he would consider their request to close a portion of the upper McCloud arm of Shasta Lake.

They said they needed a mandatory closure because in years past, voluntary closures did not keep boaters out of the area. Some boaters came through the area, disrupting the ritual by making obscene gestures and yelling racial slurs, they said.